1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for translating and interfacing between data pools and product information management (PIM) systems
2. Description of the Related Art
Global Data Synchronization (GDS) is a process of exchanging product information between enterprise systems of suppliers and retailers. A supplier presents information on new/existing products to a data pool that is accessed by different retailers. The data pool requires the use of a standardized document to submit product information and request such information, usually through an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document including a XML Schema Definition (XSD) or Document Type Definition specified by the particular data pool. The data pool comprises a central location for storing the product information. Data pools streamline the process through which supplier product information is maintained and disseminated to retailers that may be interested in the product by providing a common format for the data. There are different data pool providers, such as UCCnet™, Transora™, World Wide Retail Exchange™, etc. Each data pool provider requires a different format for messages and the XML schema to update and access product information in the data pool.
The supplier sends the standardized product information to the data pool in an XML document conforming to the data pool's requirements to publish the product information. The supplier may also update existing product information in the data pool. Retailers may then subscribe to receive product information for specified products or products having certain attributes defined in the standard documents from the suppliers. The data pool may validate the product information published by the supplier. The retailer downloads the information in the data pool specific format.
A global registry provides an index to the extended item information for the products, i.e., the XML elements and attributes for each product. The extended item or product information for a product may include information on the operation, design, packaging, pricing, features, uses, ratings, etc. for a product, i.e., basically any information a retailer would be interested in reviewing when assessing a product. For each product maintained in a data pool, the global registry contains a short description of the product and item number, as well as a location of the data pool that hosts the product information. The supplier's data pool provider publishes information about the supplier's product to the global registry. The retailer's data pool provider, which may or may not be the supplier's provider, sends subscription information to the global registry. If publication and subscription information match, then the supplier data pool sends the requested product information to the retailer data pool. A Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN) refers to the exchange of product information between different data pools connected via the global registry.